Monday, January 18, 2016

The Everest of school visits

On the first day of 2016, I flew to India for third time within a year for my third stint at the American School of Bombay. I taught creative writing three times a day for five days, and capped it with a most unusual and unexpected speaking gig.

I’d stayed the week at a Sofitel hotel and on my first day, a restaurant manager struck up a conversation. When I said I am a writer, he asked if I’d present to the staff about my work. (On his list of suggested topics I could cover: calligraphy. I quickly disabused him of the notion that I had any knowledge of that.) I said I’d be happy to but questioned if anyone would be interested. He assured me that people would and he was right:

I learned this was part of the hotel’s monthly “voices” program which revolves around a different speaker each time—sometimes guests, sometimes locals.

On 1/9/16, I was off to a first for me: Nepal, to speak at two international schools in Kathmandu—Lincoln School and the British School.

The country is still reeling from the earthquake (and aftershocks) of 2015. Evidence of it is visible fairly often, but it’s far from a city of rubble. In some cases what I took for quake damage was actually new construction in progress. (Neither school had lost any staff or students in the quake, though both, I believe, lost a significant number afterward, due to urgent relocation.)

At one point, a Nepali I was with indicated a man on the street near us and said “He’s a rich man. He has an ax.”

Glimpses of my Nepal, starting with my first step there:

The airport:

Earthquake damage:

Due to fallout from the quake, some people ride the bus like this:

Small shops are rampant, this one on the scenic drive up a mountain to a spot called Nagarkot, where Everest could be visible if weather cooperates:

The Mount Everest Youth Club:

A five-star resort with a great view...but, since the quake, a drop in guests:

Two of my kind hosts, Lincoln School elementary school principal Ken Fernandez and his wife Cri:

If not for clouds, you would see Mount Everest behind me:

Great view of the Himalayas on this postcard of my hotel, Hotel Greenwich Village...but not in real life:

To go on an hourlong Mount Everest fly-by, I had to get up at 4:30 a.m. Since the quake, Nepal is enduring load-shedding, meaning times when the power is cut to conserve. Currently it is for six hours a day but there is talk it will increase to eighteen.

We were supposed to be at the airport by 5:45 for a 6:45 departure...

...but were instead in for a parade of delays:

Named for one of the biggest myths, one of the tiniest gift shops:

The plane finally took off...at 11 a.m. It seats about 20.

The air sickness bag leaves as little to the imagination as vomiting does to the stomach:

View of Everest from the cockpit...

...and from my seat:

(It is the one to the left of the peak that looks like it is smoking.)

At Pashupatinath Temple, a holy site for Hindus, bodies from the four castes are cremated steadily. It takes a male body 2.5 hours to burn fully, a female three. Then the ashes are set adrift in the river. Among family of the deceased, crying is not allowed. After the quake, the site could not keep up with the need, forcing mass cremations. The men who perform the ritual are professionals:

The hospice on site:

Holy men live here:

It will be hard to spot me here:

Bouddhanath Stupa, a sacred Buddhist (and UNESCO World Heritage) site, which was damaged in the quake (“stupa” refers to the domelike structure):

At Lincoln, the time to change classes is announced by a handheld gong:

One class greeted me with a cool sign (complete with credit to Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman artist Ty Templeton) and bats with every student:

Part of the garden behind Ken and Cri’s house:

A charming bakery that would also be right at home in Soho:

I have not seen tangles of wires and cables like this:

A new friend, midair:

Music, movies...and moos:

Another cow:

Jeremiah O’Sullivan, the risk-taking Lincoln librarian who brought me in, bore an uncanny resemblance to Bill Finger’s son Fred, and was game to pose like him:

Less than a year earlier at the British School, on this spot stood another author...by name of J.K. Rowling:

The Cinema Times

My kind librarian host at the British School, Sunita Chitrakar:

The oldest high school in Nepal:

Good marketing on this brand of Himalayan bottled water:

One of the days I was in Kathmandu, elsewhere in the city a leopard walked into someone’s house. Just walked in:

Fires in the street represent hope in the future for this lovely country.

* Boys of Steel: The Creators of Superman got multiple starred reviews and made the front page of USA Today.* Bill the Boy Wonder: The Secret Co-Creator of Batman led to a TED talk; was covered by NPR's All Things Considered, Today Show, New York Times, Forbes; made best-of-the-year lists at USA Today, Washington Post, MTV. It also had a hand in changinghistory and inspired a Hulu documentary.

New/upcoming books:

* Brave Like My Brother (novel); Scholastic* The Chupacabra Ate the Candelabra (fiction picture book), illustrated by Ana Aranda; Nancy Paulsen Books (Penguin Random House)* Thirty Minutes Over Oregon (nonfiction picture book about the unprecedented accomplishment—and redemption—of a Japanese WWII pilot), illustrated by Melissa Iwai; Clarion* Fairy Spell (nonfiction picture book about the two girls in WWI England took photos of what they claimed were real fairies); illustrated by Eliza Wheeler; Clarion

“[N]o library in the world could object to the book’s style and panache. [T]his is one biography that’s going to lure the kids like nothing else. More fun than any children’s biography has any right to be.”—A Fuse #8 Production (School Library Journal blog; four out of five stars)

“Fascinating.”—Horn Book

“Sure to become a classic example of the genre.”—Families Online

“Wonderful…young readers…will find this…title appealing and thereby ensure that future generations recall the amazing story behind Superman’s creation as well. Wait, did I say ‘recall’? Strike that—make it ‘will be inspired by’ instead. This book is that good.”—Firefox News

“[T]ouching... The illustrated section...is upbeat, entertaining, and informative...the [well-crafted] afterword shows the shadow side of the great American dream. ...Nobleman is equally adept at both stories.”—Boston Globe

“Surprisingly poignant.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Haunting.”—Geek Monthly

“Excellent.”—GeekDad (a WIRED blog)

“A-minus.”—A.V. Club (the entertainment review arm of The Onion)

“The best and most accurate depiction of their lives in print.”—Brad Ricca, documentary filmmaker, Last Son

“Engrossing...wonderful.”—Scripps Howard News Service

“I was completely mesmerized by this book from the first instant I opened it. I loved every page, and every word. Boys of Steel transported me; it made me feel young; it moved me to tears. Honest to God, it did! It caused my black heart to melt. The book is absolutely fantastic, the book is tremendous, the book is a huge achievement.”—Robby Reed, DIAL B for BLOG